The Skeleton Prince Returns
by The Emerald Shapeshifter
Summary: REWRITE! Upon learning the story of the Skeleton Prince, the Hyperforce attempts to destroy his links to reality. A wild goose chase across the galaxy shows them that light can hide the darkness and the Prince is closer than they think.
1. Prologue

**The Skeleton Prince Returns**

**A SRMTHFG Fanfiction**

* * *

><p><span>So, the time has come again.<span>

No, it's me, Emma, and I'm here to REWRITE this Fanfiction! As you may have noticed i have deleted the old versions of any Skeleton Prince story. I WILL update them again in time. Don't give away the ending for people who haven't read these ;)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: Prologue<strong>

_Set up high, I'm strong enough to take these dreams and make them mine._

The ground flew underneath their feet.

Mandarin was pulling Velina along on a barren desert world, away from yet another scorching defeat at the hands of the Hyperforce. Mandarin scoffed.

"My foolish brethren will soon get what's coming to them!" he yelled.

Velina nodded. "Soon we will have the perfect weapon to fight them, demon monkey. For in these ruins lies another piece to the puzzle."

They arrived to a large, ruined temple. The stone was red and glittering, and black jewels littered the ground as they moved on through. Mandarin looked around.

"Why are we here, witch?" he inquired. "These ruins have been abandoned for millennia."

"Which is exactly why we are here."

They ran into the largest temple, where a dilapidated throne stood. Behind it was a huge waterfall spewing black and red water through the whole temple, running in grooves through the floor.

Velina left Mandarin to look around as she approached the throne. She ran her hands alone the pure, sickening white of the bone it was carved from. She glanced to the right to see a book on the edge of her vision, laying on the floor with a black gem on the front. She grabbed it as Mandarin was about to, earning a glare which she ignored.

"'The Skeleton Prince'," she read aloud, reading the cover.

Mandarin screeched. "Whaat?"

Velina opened the book to read the first page.

"The Skeleton Prince is the pure embodiment of evil dark magic. A rare shadow demon who prefers the bodies of those pure of heart to possess. He has created his own line of beings to possess, reincarnated through the ages."

"So there's a prince as well?" Mandarin asked. "This Prince could be our key to destroying the Hyperforce!"

"Not likely, you freak," a new voice said.

Mandarin screeched and Velina turned to see a new figure leaning against the open archway that led outside. He casually glanced at them, face hidden by his black cloak.

Mandarin held up his claw. "Who are you?"

The figure shrugged. "I'm no one."

"What are you doing here?"

"Psh. Fool, I live here."

Mandarin paused, but still held his ground. "I ask again, who are you?"

"Don't speak to me."

"Who are you?"

The figure moved faster than he could see, and Mandarin found himself thrown into one of the grooves in the floor.

"I'll ask again, stop talking to me," the figured hissed.

Velina pointed her fingers at the figure, and they extended like vines, wrapping around his middle and holding him still.

"Who are you, boy?" Velina hissed. "How did you follow us here?"

"I told you, I live here," the boy said, shrugging. "Now let me go."

"Not likely," Mandarin said. "I bet it's the boy, here to spy on us for the Hyperforce." He approached the incapacitated figure and gripped the hood with his good hand, intent on taking the hood off. Then he screeched and backed off. "He _bit_ me!"

"You touched me," the figured said smugly.

Velina released him and stepped back, eyeing him. "What do you know?"

"I am a humble servant of the Skeleton Prince, endowed to free my Master from his mortal prison and allow him to live free from the shackles of flesh," the figure said grandly. "If you two believe you have what it takes to aid me, I may reveal the secrets I know."

"And why would we do that?" Mandarin asked, cradling his injured hand.

"Because my Master will reward you gloriously be destroying the Hyperforce as you see fit."

Velina and Mandarin looked at each other, intrigued, then back at the figure. But he was no longer there. The sound of someone clearing their throat alerted them and they turned around to see the figure lounging on the throne lazily, watching them with disinterest.

"If you wish to seek my master you will need artifacts that he imbued with his power and scattered across the galaxy by the tainted force of light," he continued. "You will need the Shadow Shrapnel, a piece of the most powerful shadow artifact in the universe. You will need the Demon Stone, which imprisons a vital part of his spirit. And lastly, you will need Eclipse, his sword of legend, which he refuses to exist without."

He opened the book and pointed to a map on one page. "Amere, Infuego, and Hendren. Find the artifacts and bring them to the shrine."

And he vanished. The book fell to the ground with a thud.

"What do we do now?" Mandarin asked.

"We find this Skeleton Prince," Velina said, eyeing the throne. "We find the artifacts and bring him back, and he will reward us by bringing the Skeleton King back from the dead!"

Leaving the building to mount up their skeleton wyvern, they didn't notice they forgot the book, and they also didn't notice the figure that picked it up. Fingers ran over the spine, the letters on it flaring red in response.

"No…"

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><p><span>Whoo, definitely better than the old one.<span>


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Warning**

Chiro had been in the meditation chamber all afternoon, eyes closed and focusing with a strength that impressed Antauri.

Recently Chiro had returned from a routine scouting trip of the Umbra quadrant, which was the source of a lot of the darkness that headed towards Shuggazoom. Upon his return he told them he found nothing, emphasizing nothing, repeating nothing up until the point where Antauri assumed he had actually found something. But he didn't know what. Chiro had excused himself from lunch to go to the meditation chamber, where he currently resided, lost in himself.

Antauri watched him from the glass chamber above, where he would usually monitor Chiro's progress in his meditation. Today, though, he was spying.

Movement. Chiro's eyes finally opened, 5 hours and 32 minutes after they closed, and looked up at him. Something in his eyes glared menacingly even as Chiro smiled warmly and beckoned him down.

He phased through the glass and silently floated down, noticing Chiro's eyes burn into his forehead. Finally, he spoke.

"What troubles you, Chiro? Ever since your return you have been distant and distracted."

Chiro grimaced ever so slightly. "I lied to you guys. I saw Velina and Mandarin on a deserted world. From what I heard, they are attempting to revive the Skeleton Prince."

Antauri's eyes widened ever so slightly. "I was hoping they would never discover the whereabouts of that book."

Chiro looked up. "You know of it?"

"I should, I left it on Hendren long ago when I found it, hoping no one would be dumb enough to go to the hell-lit world to find it."

Chiro looked back down. "We need to stop them."

Antauri nodded. "They have gotten a good head start, but I know the places where the Skeleton Prince heirlooms are located exactly. We will find them and destroy them."

Chiro nodded solemnly.

—

On the command deck of the Robot, Chiro and Antauri had just finished briefing the other monkeys on the intelligence Chiro had gathered, and what their newest mission is.

"Of course, Jinmay will remain here to defend Shuggazoom in out absence," Antauri suggested, gesturing at the female robot, who nodded. "This might be a long mission, and we can't know what will happen."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

The screen behind Chiro lit up, and he pointed to it. "The three planets we need to go to have had their coordinates pre-programmed. They are Amere, Infuego, and Hendren. According to the computers, each of these worlds is inhabited by all manners of ghosts, ghouls and demons, so we should take caution while gathering the Skeleton Prince heirlooms."

"The Shadow Shrapnel holds his spirit," Chiro announced. "The Demon Stone encases his body, his corporeal form, and the Black-Night Blade, Eclipse, holds his heart, his will to live. Without it he can't be resurrected."

The others nodded and ran off to their posts to ready for take-off. Jinmay approached Chiro and kissed him on the cheek softly.

"Come back to me," she said with a smile, echoing herself from before the team left to fight the Skeleton King Worm.

Chiro felt a pang in his chest and his heart clenched, and he nodded. "I will."

As Jinmay went down the orange tube to exit the Robot, Chiro looked up at the screen, where Amere was circled, the Robot prepped to fly there. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and ran off to his tube, his heart pounding.

As he settled in the Torso Tank and buckled himself in, he heard Antauri say, "Engines are warmed up and ready for take-off. On your order, Chiro."

Chiro sighed again, gripping the yokes. "Let's get this over with."

—

As the Robot cruised through outer space, the team took to just talking and making conversation, attempting to rid the Robot of the uneasy feeling that lingered about for some reason. As Sparx and Gibson argued about something or other, Otto threw in funny quips that made them pause. Nova would butt in occasionally while Chiro and Antauri were…quiet.

Chiro had his eyes closed and his head back as if asleep, but Antauri knew better. His eyes were not moving beneath his eyelids, therefore he was awake. The silver monkey knew he was listening to them, absorbing every menial conversation, soaking it all in. He was never one to fall asleep during flights. Antauri gripped his steering mechanism, clenching and unclenching his hands around it, unnerved.

"Chiro, what's wrong?" he asked finally.

No answer. Chiro didn't even flinch at his ruse being discovered. He didn't indicate he heard Antauri, either.

"Antauri, leave the kid alone," Sparx said. "He's probably got a lot on his mind."

"Whereas Sparx has nothing on his mind," Nova mumbled.

"Aww, just admit you love me, Nova."

Antauri grinned ever so slightly, turning his eyes back to the Chosen One. Chiro remained motionless, dreaming to himself.

—

"Amere is an anomaly among the galaxy's planets," Gibson droned on. "Amere has no star it orbits around, therefore it is always dark, which enhances the shadow energy there. Planets such as this are called rogue worlds."

"Legend says that all of the universe's dead inhabit Amere," Antauri said. "Bad spirits see the planet for what it is, maybe even worse—barren, lifeless, with only a pale moon to barely light it. Meanwhile, those that were good in their life see the planet as a lush paradise, to reward them in life."

Chiro opened his eyes, finally. "Who judges them?"

"Hm?"

"Who judges whether the person has been good or bad?" Chiro explained. "Aren't those two terms all in perspective? Maybe a murderer feels like he was doing the right thing. Maybe a thief had to steal to feed himself."

Sparx's brow rose ever so slightly. "I've never heard you ask that before, Chiro."

"It's weird to think like that, Chiro," Nova said softly. "We're heroes."

Chiro sat up slowly, eyeing his screen. "Is that Amere?"

The others looked at their screens. Up ahead, there was a huge gaping black area, where there wasn't any starlight coming through. As they got closer, the shape defined itself as a planet, and one of the brighter stars showed itself to be a satellite, Amere's moon.

"Prepare for landing," Chiro said, gripping the controls.

—

Upon exiting the Robot, the team was met with swarms of wraiths and ghosts. They swirled around in the sky, moaning and screeching but relatively leaving them alone. Still, the team stood on their guard and proceeded.

They came upon a menacing looking castle. Two grim reaper statues holding scythes painted black stood on both sides of a huge gate, placed there to scare away visitors. The pale moon seemed straight overhead, and still the shadows loomed at them.

"Great, what now?" Sparx grumbled.

Chiro was looking at that book again. Antauri eyed him and asked, "What is that?"

"I found it while patrolling the Umbra quadrant," Chiro answered. "It tells all the secrets of its worlds, including Amere and Shuggazoom."

Chiro ran fingers over the letters, as if he could read them by touch, since there was no light. Suddenly he dropped the book and approached the statue on the right.

With a loud roar, he was in his inner primate form, light bleeding out and making the very air hiss and burn. The air seemed to come alive, and the shadows attacked the team. With a loud battle cry, the team engaged the shadows while Chiro approached the huge gate.

He tilted his head to the side, looking quizzically at the castle. It gave off an ominous aura, but didn't seem overly evil. He gripped one of the scythes the statues held and ripped it out of the stone hands, slicing a ghost with it who dared to come near him. He approached the gate and wedged the weapon underneath, prying the gate open and using the scythe to hold it in place.

"Go," he whispered, his arms shaking as his Inner Primate faded.

The team ran inside, leaving Chiro to protect the entrance. Antauri gave one look back to see Chiro and a ghost facing off.

—

"This place is creepy beyond measure," Sparx muttered, holding himself.

"Indeed," Antauri agreed. "The dead scream for vengeance."

"We best hurry then," Gibson said, and their pace increased.

As they continued for what seemed ages, Gibson said, "The greatest amount of shadow energy is coming from the chamber up ahead!"

They entered the chamber, filled with darkness and more ghouls and demons than they could imagine. None paid them heed, though, and Antauri called out, "Where is your master?"

"_Why have you come?_" a voice called out, and two blood red eyes glared at them from the darkness.

"We come to put an end to the Skeleton Prince, and the Shadow Shrapnel is a part of that plan," Gibson said. "Would you let us have it?"

"Where is Chiro?"

They all looked at each other.

"I am here."

Turning around, they saw Chiro approaching them, scythe in hand, dragging his feet. He looked around him.

"Rhü," he said.

Something flew through the air, landing at Chiro's feet. It was a tiny piece of glass, pitch black almost, and Chiro picked it up.

"Thank you," Antauri said to the voice.

The monkeys all filed out. Chiro dropped the scythe without flair on the ground, glaring at nothing.

"Are you sure about this Chiro?"

"Positive."

—

Song: Who Are You Really?

By Mikky Ekko


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Show Me How**

"So…this is very anticlimactic," Sparx pointed out, holding up the artifact. It was about the size of a large toothpick, and the same shape. "_This_ is what we need?"

"Of course," Antauri said. "This is but a piece of a very powerful shadow artifact. Darkness is not evil, Sparx, only the opposite of light."

Sparx looked at him. "It hurts to hold it. How is darkness not evil?"

Chiro approached Sparx and plucked the artifact out of his hands as Sparx said, "So it's supposed to show the way? How? Is it going to tell us where to go next or something?"

Chiro was cupping the artifact in his hands. Open and closed. As he opened and closed his hands the artifact took different shapes and forms.

"How are you doing that?" Nova asked, shocked.

Chiro merely shrugged.

"This artifact will lead us to the rest," Antauri said. He made to grab the artifact from Chiro, but Chiro tightened his grip on it without doing anything else. Antauri made a mental note to question him later, but left him be for now.

"Once we have the others, the Prince will show himself, and we may destroy him."

"What if you can't?" Chiro suddenly asked, not looking up.

The monkeys eyed him. "Pardon?" Gibson asked.

"This Skeleton Prince is supposed to be all powerful, omnipotent, dangerous. What if he's worse than the Skeleton King? We barely defeated him with our lives, and Antauri WAS killed! Why can't we just leave this be?"

Antauri sighed. "We're heroes, Chiro. It's our job."

Chiro grumbled something.

"How is that thing supposed to lead us to the rest?" Otto piped in.

Chiro rolled his eyes and approached the command computer with the chip. Setting it on the analyzing pad, the team watched as a map popped up on the screen.

Chiro glared at the screen. "Infuego. World of magma and hellfire. Guys, I'm going to burn to a crisp if I set foot on that world. The Demon Stone is there."

"We shall retrieve it," Gibson offered. "We are more accustomed to extremes in temperature due to our robotic parts."

—

"Chiro wasn't joking. This entire planet has been wrought with some calamity to make it like this," Gibson noted.

The ground was on fire and the oceans were magma. Yet, still, there was life. Strange, burning creatures made of stone and metal, insects with wings of fire, and in the distance there was a huge mountain with lightning arcing off of it. There was a building at the top.

"This planet's dominant race are the Will-'O-Wisps, a species of living fire," Nova read off the scanner. "They can take on multiple forms, most notably a bird, which is how the phoenix myth on Earth was started."

The ground suddenly crumbled underneath them, sending them falling down into the darkness lit dimly by flowing magma.

"Ouch, my tail!" Otto moaned, rubbing his backside. "What happened?"

Gibson looked up. "This entire world is an unstable ball of fire."

The team followed the river of lava to another chamber. "The stone should be in here," Antauri said. "I sense great evil."

"Guys, don't take another step," Chiro's voice over the communicators warned. "There's something in there."

Antauri flicked on his helmet flashlight, but right as he did, there was a shrill screech, and Antauri was gone.

"Ah! Antauri!" Sparx took out his magnets and started blasting aimlessly.

"ARGH! Sparx!" Antauri yelled, and his body was dropped, sparking with red electricity, at their feet.

"Oops."

Glowing red eyes met theirs as a voice grumbled, "The Skeleton Prince must not be released."

Antauri grunted with the effort of sitting up. "We must destroy him, for once and for all."

"It is better that he not be released now, but later," the voice said. "So it had been decided. We save the young boy who he had chosen as host, to hide, rid his heart of the darkness and replace it with the light, with the raw power of the earth and the gloriousness of life."

"What are you talking about?" Nova asked.

"We saved one of the Prince's hosts, as he always chooses a mortal to leech off of in a display of ultimate power. His power, encased in the crystal you found. His soul within this stone," a glowing blue stone appeared as if floating before them, "and his heart within his sword, a blade made from the darkness of space and formed within a dying star. We split him in three and scattered him to the wills of the universe."

"It seems the wills of the universe want us to destroy him, for good," Antauri said.

Silence.

"So it may seem." The stone dropped to their feet. "You have chosen your death. No one will mourn you."

Antauri picked the stone up. "You know who the Skeleton Prince is? Who his host was?"

"It is not my place to tell you, only when he reveals himself to you with blade in hand, will you see the truth."

The Super Robot's hand punched through the ceiling of the cave and grabbed the monkeys amidst the rubble as the voice called out, "Kill him before he kills you!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Stolen**

The team landed without fanfare inside the Robot, rubbing their heads. Antauri gripped the blue stone with his tail. They all looked up as Chiro's voice over the comm. yelled, "Monkey team! Hull breach!"

They rushed to the main chamber of the robot only to be met by a gruesome sight: Chiro, beaten and bloodied with Mandarin's claw to his throat and Velina standing behind them ominously. Chiro grimaced as Velina spoke.

"Hand over the Demon Stone, primates."

"Never!" Sparx moved to step forward, but Mandarin's grip on Chiro's throat tightened, and the chosen one gasped for air.

"What do you want with the Prince?" Antauri asked, glaring at Mandarin.

"Simple," Mandarin said gleefully. "He will serve us in return for us bringing him back to this world. And we will use him to destroy Shuggazoom and take over the galaxy!"

"Because that worked _so_ well with the Skeleton King," Nova scoffed.

Chiro's hands gripped Mandarin's claw. "You two don't get it," he gasped. "He won't obey you. He'll destroy you for even looking at him wrong I bet. You two don't learn from your past failures!"

"Silence, whelp!" Mandarin screeched, picking Chiro up and tossing him into a cage in the corner. "You're coming with us as insurance that the Hyperforce won't interfere."

"I'll take this," Velina said, appearing behind Antauri and grabbing the stone before kicking him onto his face. "We already got the Shadow Shrapnel, as well."

"Now to Hendran for Eclipse, and total conquest!" Mandarin yelled.

Velina's medallion began to glow, and Mandarin, Chiro, and Velina vanished into the air. Sparx's body landed where they were as he attempted to stop them.

"Damn it!" he yelled out.

"Don't worry, Sparx," Gibson said, typing furiously on the computer. "We know exactly where they're going."

—

_"Monkey Team! Do you read?"_

"Chiro!" Nova cried as the voice of their chosen one echoed over their communicators. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he said, though he sounded far from ok. "Turn on the TV."

Antauri did so, and Chiro's face appeared. He had more bruises than before, and he seemed to be in a small cage.

"I need to do this quick," he told them hurriedly. "I know the legend of the Skeleton Prince."

"You do?" Gibson squawked. "How?"

"An old hobo once told it to me," Chiro replied, "though his explanation of it was kind of weird."

"Tell us," Nova prompted.

"It was a long, long time ago, existed a spirit full of hatred and spite. The gods merely brushed him aside like he was nothing. _Dirt_." Chiro spat the word as if it were poison. "So he planned. Plotted. He secretly siphoned away the darkest energies from the universe to feed himself. The worst, demonic energy he could find. Primal.

"He picked human hosts with pure hearts to feed off of so he wouldn't arouse suspicion. He waged war across the universe. He destroyed worlds, the first demon of darkness fell to his blade."

The others listened carefully.

"Guys. Turn back. I'll find a way home, but seriously, you don't wanna be there when he's brought back."

"We will never abandon you, Chiro," Antauri promised.

"Who are you talking to, boy?" Mandarin's voice yelled, and the screen went black.

Antauri turned to Gibson. "Activate hyperdrive."

Since the last two were short I'm posting two today! ENJOY!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Lost Hopes and Doused Dreams**

The Robot touched down on Hendran. The grass was dead and the air was chilled. In the distance, red eyes could be seen, watching them.

"Hendran," Gibson uttered, looking at Antauri. "World of the living dead."

They walked briskly, and all the while, voices whispered to them.

_They prepare._

_He will return to lead us._

_We are his to command._

_He created this world to be his own; we are powerless to do anything but obey._

_He destroyed this planet's sun as a show of his power, and in the process, gained his weapon._

_The boy with the red eyes and raven hair._

"This place is creepy," Otto said, teeth chattering. "What are they trying to tell us?"

"I don't know, Otto," Antauri said. They had been walking for a long time. "I think this is it."

Before them was a castle, the likes of which they had never seen. The doorway seemed to have teeth, made of actual bone, and the castle itself seemed to glare at them menacingly as it pierced the sky. The team approached the door, and could see words carved into the stone: _The Skeleton Prince descended here._

"Are we too late?" Nova asked, frowning.

Antauri sighed. "I hope not."

Inside the main hall were statues of what seemed to be the Skeleton Prince's former incarnations. Each statue had glowing red eyes, and the team watched, startled, as each one kneeled in turn as they passed by.

"Which way?" Otto asked. "This place is confusing!"

"Chiro! Are you there, kid?" Sparx called out.

No answer.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Otto said.

He was staring at the last statue in the line, a young man on the back of a horse rearing. The statue held a sword in its hand.

"The sword, its different from the rest," Gibson noted. "The rest have stone swords, this one is metal!"

"Pull it out," Antauri ordered, eyes darkening. The stories rang in his head. Forged in a dying sun. The death of thousands. Eclipse.

Otto succeeded in pulling the sword from the statues hands, but as he did, he yelped. "It burned me!"

"This is the sword," Antauri concluded. "Eclipse; only the Skeleton Prince may wield it."

"Then how do we take it with us?" Nova asked.

Otto kicked the sword over to them, and it rested with the hilt pointing towards a door to the right. A call of "Monkey Team!" came from the doorway.

"Chiro!" Antauri levitated the sword as the team ran into the room.

The entire team was stopped cold and slammed into a wall. Velina snickered, holding her medallion in their direction before her eyes trained on the sword lying in the doorway. "You found it! Thank you so much, simians."

All five fell to the floor, grimacing, as Mandarin approached the sword and picked it up. He screeched as the sword burnt his hands, and tossed it over to the side. It landed near Chiro, who was chained up to the wall looking worse for the wear.

"What do you guys want with the Skeleton Prince?" Antauri demanded.

"Power," Mandarin hissed. "We will use him to control his horde of the undead, to slaughter races, conquer worlds, the galaxy will be ours!"

"That worked so well with the Skeleton King!" Sparx retorted, glaring. "He tossed you aside like garbage for all the work you did!"

"True," Mandarin dismissed. "But this one is a Prince? And a Prince can only serve those more powerful than him."

Mandarin's eyes grew wide and he gurgled suddenly as the blade of a sword protruded from his chest. Shakily, he gripped the sword in his stomach, gasping for air. He jolted and his body fell to the ground, revealing Chiro, holding Eclipse.

"Except you aren't powerful at all," Chiro murmured, gazing down at Mandarin's body. The monkey team, shocked, noticed Velina laying off to the side in a crumpled heap, next to Chiro's broken chains.

"C-Chiro?" Otto asked.

Chiro didn't look at them. "I don't remember my childhood. He suppressed and joy, happiness, hopefulness. Until I found you guys. Nova taught me martial arts, and Antauri taught me meditation. I beat him into submission, deep into my heart and into my past. I managed to keep him at bay until you mentioned him. You walked into the lion's den dressed as a sheep."

Antauri was shocked speechless. "That's why you didn't want to do this…you kept telling me it wasn't worth it. I didn't listen."

Chiro dragged his fingers along the blade of the sword he held, transfixed by it. "You never took my advice. Why should now be any different?"

"You could have told us, Chiro!" Antauri stood up shakily. "We could have helped."

Chiro turned to Mandarin's body and held his hand up, glowing red. "Chiro's gone, you pathetic fool. Not that you could have ever saved him."

Mandarin's body convulsed before stilling and rising, eyes glowing red. "Ssssseerrrrvveeee…" he uttered.

The team watched in shock as Chiro's uniform changed from orange to red and from white to black. His raven hair took on an ivory color with a streak of running red in it. Finally turning to the team, they could see his sapphire irises had turned blood red.

"Since you five are the ones who freed me, you will be the last to taste the steel of my blade," Chiro muttered.

Runes etched themselves into the floor, finally illuminating the room in red light. The team's attention was stolen briefly from Chiro to the altar at the far end of the room. They could see the Shadow Shrapnel, the gem embedded in the wall above the altar in the center. They could see the Demon's Stone, glowing embedded in a socket below.

They could see Eclipse, the Black-Night Blade, covered in Mandarin's blood, not even burning Chiro as it seemed he _was_ chosen to wield it. He was the Skeleton Prince.

"This blade was forged in the remnants of the star Yiyyz," the Prince explained. "It sucks the light out of everything, and it and I are destined to bring about eternal darkness."

"Chiro, you're the Chosen one of the Power Primate," Antauri said slowly.

"It's all a lie," the Prince said, shrugging it off. "To hide what he truly is. To hide from me. Ever hear of running from your destiny, Antauri? It will always find you in the end."

Wings of black energy formed behind the Prince, lifting him up high above their heads. "The dawn of a new era has begun at the dusk of a time long past. The dead will roam and devour the living, darkness will rule the day and the night will eat your soul."

The monkeys cowered against the wall, but Antauri stood tall and strong against the wind from the Prince's wings.

"And you," the demon yelled. He looked down, pointed his sword at Antauri and the monkeys, and whispered, "_Run_."

The monkeys shrieked and ran out of the room, but Antauri remained, staring defiantly into the Prince's ruby eyes. Antauri tackled the floating Prince to the ground and pinned him down.

"I know the Chiro I know and love is inside," Antauri gritted out. "I will find him, and I will destroy you."

The Prince laughed. "There's no way I'm going back now."

Slapping Antauri with the flat of his blade, the Prince sent the silver monkey flying into the wall.

"_You will all fall before me!_" the Prince roared, energy sparking the air around him.

Red lightning struck him in the back and he fell to the stone floor. He gazed up at Antauri, but his eyes had changed back to blue even as the dark energy crept up his arms.

"Antauri, _run_!" Chiro yelled, back to himself before clenching his eyes shut.

"Chiro…" Antauri began.

"_RUN!_"

Sparx grabbed Antauri and ran out of the room, saying, "We'll save him, Antauri. We won't abandon him."

"No," Antauri whispered, looking back into the room as they ran, catching a brief glimpse of Chiro writhing in agony before they ran outside.


End file.
